Page 40 of Saved by the Vampire Goddess (Dark Wine Vampires #1)

Chapter forty

Evelina

Minnesota Ark Prime—A few hours earlier

O n the seventh night after Valroy left—because that’s how I count the nights now—I tell the Lux I’m unavailable for meetings as I’m out of mortal blood and must scavenge. To save time, I comm one of my teammates for the recent list and head out into the frigid weather to the house marked with a bright green E.

This is where I taught Valroy how to extend his claws to climb to the second story. Extending my own claws reminds me of him again. All that pain I’ve been suppressing rises from my gut, tossing knives at my heart. Any little thing that reminds me of him squeezes my lungs until I want to cry.

The high winds buffet me as I ascend, and I slip on the slick ice coating the wall, the points of my claws screeching as I scramble for purchase. I almost hit the ground before I sink my claws deeper into the smooth stucco and climb again.

Once inside, I hustle and find eight items on the New Rome list, which all fit in my backpack. Then I scramble back down the exterior wall. The wind howls around me, snow sleeting from the sky, as I trudge to my snowmobile and toss the backpack inside the trailer.

Forty minutes later, I unpack my stuff into the reclamation container, waiting while the guard on duty evaluates my junk, and then I hear the gears grinding and the door to the transfer point pops open. Twelve blood bags. A great haul. Enough to feed me for a week without dipping into my clone blood supplies.

If Valroy were still here, it’d be enough to feed him for a few days.

One thought is all it takes, and the pain is back. I shut my eyes against the tears freezing on my face and try not to think about his promise to love me even without the bond.

I tug the bison skins tighter around me and hit the accelerator to head home. Dawn is hours away, but I’m done for the night. Cleaning the dirty ice off the snowmobile and trailer takes an hour. I’ve learned the hard way that letting them sit in the garage wet will only rush their demise. And then I’ll have to listen to a lecture from Ingvar about how the Lux have limited resources, blah, blah, blah.

Thinking of Ingvar brings back the image of Valroy when I told him to leave. The look of heartbreak in his brown eyes. I clutch my chest—it hurts so bad.

Every little thought.

I sniff back the tears, hang up the bison skins, take off my thermal coat and pants, and leave everything in the garage to dry as I go through decon.

When I step out, clean and mold-free, I throw on a pink silk robe. Fastening the belt into a bow, I head down the hallway toward my living area. The intruder bell rings, and I come to an abrupt halt before I can see into the main room. Then the bell stops.

I detect two heartbeats, one mortal and one vampire. Neither are Lux. Strange scents reach my nose, and I sniff at the air, trying to separate what I smell from the lingering odors left behind by Valroy and the others, and figure my sad heart has me imagining things, overriding my usually accurate nose.

They must be committee members. It’s the only conclusion that makes any sense, and I growl in disgust. I’m in no mood for a surprise in-person meeting.

Alert, cautious, but not afraid, I step forward, still not able to see who’s intruded on my home.

The wolf whistle that greets me doesn’t sound like anyone I know, either. I grab a shotgun from the hallway rack and whoosh forward. Rock salt is about to teach the intruders a lesson in boundaries and manners.

And then I recognize the Lux in mortal guise standing in my kitchen. What in the ever-loving name of holy heck is Cerissa’s cousin doing here? He’s gotten into my wine cupboard—aged wine I’ve scavenged from the area—and helped himself to half a bottle already.

I narrow my eyes, though I’m not quite pointing the business end of the shotgun at him. “What do you think you’re doing, popping into a private residence without permission and stealing my wine?”

“Nice robe, Evelina. Shows off your figure well.”

I pump the shotgun, pointing the barrel at his feet. “You’re replacing that bottle of wine.” I enjoy a mixed cocktail of blood and wine on occasion, and on the open market, that stuff’s darn expensive. “And you have three seconds to explain why you’re here.”

He raises his hands. “Easy there. I’m here to make a delivery.”

“Hey,” a deep voice says from my right.

I pivot on the balls of my feet to see the source of the voice. I didn’t ever think I’d see Valroy this soon. He’s waiting on my couch, leaning forward, hands clenched together, looking like he’s about to have his heart staked.

Ari snorts a laugh. “I figure my delivery service more than makes up for a bottle of wine.” He flexes his jaw, and my comm rings. “You now have my direct number. Call me if it doesn’t work out with the Roman gladiator.”

And poof . Ari and my bottle of wine are gone.

I glare at Valroy. “What’re you doing here?”

Ah, anger, my old friend. Much easier to wear in front of him than the pain icing my heart.

He meets me by the kitchen table, grips the barrel of my shotgun, and pushes it away.

I’d forgotten the business end had swung in his direction when I turned. “So?” I ask, still holding the shotgun across my body.

“I’m here to stay, if you will have me.”

“What?”

“Ari explained to me that Ingvar was wrong. I don’t have to choose between happiness and duty. I don’t have to choose between abandoning Tina for the rest of her life or leaving you. There’s a way to stay here and still be a decent brother.” He touches the area behind his jaw, rubbing at a red mark. “We have comms now, so I can speak to Tina as often as we want. I’ll scavenge and earn enough to visit her in Hawaii. But I can—I want—to live here, with you.” He takes my hands off the rifle, lays the darn thing on the kitchen table, and then, still holding on to me, presses my fingers against his chest, over his heart. “I give you my word of honor. You’re the only one for me.”

Holy heck. My heart ker-thumps in a mad beat as hope fills my lungs. His honor. And if I’ve learned anything about Valroy, it’s that he stands by his honor.

Grabbing a jewelry box off the kitchen table, he kneels awkwardly in front of me on the Berber carpet. “Uh, this isn’t the way we do it in New Rome. There, we sign a contract.”

Yeah, right. The men sign a contract. The women aren’t asked, and that’s one thing I’m changing using the goddess’s voice.

He clears his throat. “But Ari briefed me on your traditions.”

He snaps open the jewelry box and takes out an engagement ring with a diamond the size of a hen’s egg.

Well, maybe not that big, but Geez Louise, it’s bigger than any I’ve scavenged. “Where’d you get that?” I blurt out.

“Advance payment for two years of scavenging service in this ark.” He looks up at me with those pleading eyes. “Evelina Odegard, will you marry me?”

The frost around my heart instantly melts. “I must be cursed to even consider this.”

“If you’re cursed, then I am too. Because I’ll love you forever. Bond or no bond. You’re the one the gods fated me to be with.”

Oh heck. Do we have a chance at being in the ten percent of vampire marriages that last? Hope rises, and despite my fears, I want this so badly, I ache for him. I slide my finger into the ring he holds out. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you, even though you’re the one who fell first.”

He rises to his feet, grinning from ear to ear. “Face the truth. That’s what you love about me. I gave you my heart and you’ll never be able to give it back.”

Before I can disagree, he takes me in his arms, and the kiss he gives me sears my soul.